The Man in the Coma
by tashayar333
Summary: An attack on the army base puts Booth in a coma. Can Brennan deal with losing him again? After the finale, when they return from their year apart.
1. Bad News

**This is my first attempt at uploading a story here. I know this is short, but please just bear with me. It will be in chapters. Please review with ideas and errors that I may have missed!**

Dr. Temperance Brennan stared out the airplane window, going through her last few moments with Booth. She had started to feel something deep inside her every time he smiled at her, every time she looked into his eyes. It had started right after that night, when he asked if she would give them a chance. She couldn't wait to see Angela. She could tell Brennan what that meant.

Her year away from home was finally up, and she couldn't wait to see her friends again. She took the earliest flight home that she could possibly get, and she would land in an hour. Angela and Jack's flight landed two hours ago, and they were staying at the airport until Brennan's flight landed. The hour flew by very quickly, and soon she was grabbing her luggage and looking for Angela. She didn't expect her to look the way she did. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying for hours. Hodgins was trying to comfort her as best he could, but he also looked like he was crying too. "Angela? Hodgins? What is it?"

"It's Booth…" she managed to say before racking into sobs.

"What about Booth? Is he ok?" Brennan asked.

"He's been put into a coma. Their base was attacked. Very few survivors. Booth was flown here for treatment. They are saying that they don't know if he'll ever wake up." Hodgins managed to say.

Brennan sat down next to Angela, trying to process this. She couldn't think straight, which had never happened to her before. All she knew was that they had to go see him. They hurried to the car and headed straight to the hospital.


	2. Realization

Brennan, Hodgins, and Angela arrived at the hospital as fast as humanly possible. It was amazing they hadn't gotten pulled over. Brennan was now staring through the glass at her FBI partner whom she hadn't seen in a year. They had exchanged letters, and she had received pictures as well, but that wasn't the same. Now looking through that glass, she felt that strange feeling she had felt before. One of the doctors came out. "Is one of you Temperance Brennan?" she asked. Brennan just nodded, and the doctor handed her a letter addressed to her in Booth's handwriting.

"We found this in his clothing. I figured he would want you to have it."

She looked at the unopened letter in her hands. She was paralyzed. She hadn't expected something like this. She turned it over in her hands and slowly began to break the seal. She carefully removed the slip of paper and began to read the carefully crafted handwriting.

Dear Bones,

If you're reading this, it means I'm dead or dying. I just needed you to know that I love you, and that I've loved you since day one. I've thought of you each and every single day here, and there were plenty of times when I considered jumping on a plane to Indonesia to see you. I promise you that, even while I take my last breath and close my eyes for the last time, I'll be thinking of you, and I'll hope that you're thinking of me too. One day, maybe I'll have the satisfaction of watching this letter burn, when I'm finally back in DC, solving crimes with you. I love you, and I always will no matter what.

Love,

Booth

Brennan read the letter over three times more, tears pouring from her eyes. Angela put an arm around her to try and comfort her. Brennan handed her the letter so that she could read it.

"Bren, are you in love with Booth?" Angela asked after reading over the letter twice.

"I don't know anymore. I told him no, but now…" She looked very distraught; she hadn't been this out of control of her feelings since the day her parents left. "One night, after telling Sweets about our first case, Booth told me that he wanted to give this a chance, and then he kissed me. Then I said no. But after that night, I started to feel something every time I looked at him. I had to get away-"

"Sweetie, that night, Booth pretty much said that he loves you, and you shoved his face into the concrete. And from what you just told me, you're in love with him too. If he survives this, he's never gonna try again because he thinks you just want to be friends."

"What if that is all I want?"

"No, Brennan, that's not what you want. I know you too well to just accept that. You're afraid of being abandoned again. You're afraid to love anyone because you think they're just gonna let you down. What happened with Zack only reinforced that. But believe me sweetie; Booth will never, ever hurt you. That man in there? He's in love with you. And this letter? It says exactly that in his handwriting. You better hope to god that he wakes up because you're in love with him too."

Brennan wanted to argue further, but she realized Angela was right. She entered Booth's room and sat in the chair next to his bed. She gently grabbed his hand and held it against her forehead. "Come on Booth, you have to wake up. Come on…" she allowed the sobs she had been holding back to engulf her.

. . .

"Come on, Booth, you have to wake up," he heard a familiar voice say.

"Hey, Bren," he said, looking into the deep blue eyes of his wife. She was holding their new baby girl. She had only been born the day before, so Booth had opted to stay at the hospital overnight to make sure the little girl was perfectly healthy before taking her home. Booth left the night club to his brother, so that they could raise their baby, who they still had no idea what to call.


	3. Denial

**This one may be a little confusing at first. Please review with questions, comments, critique, and ideas for my next chapter.**

Three Years Later

Joy Booth rushed into her parent's room, excited for the day ahead.

"Mommy, Daddy, it's time to wake up! You promised to take me to the zoo today!" she exclaimed as she began to jump on their bed.

"Is there a snooze button on this thing?" Booth said, playfully poking her forehead. He slowly opened one eye to peek at her. "I saw that, daddy. I know you're awake." He started pretending to snore. "Daddy, come on!"

"Alright, fine," he said in exaggerated exasperation,

"How bout you try to get Mommy up while I go start breakfast." he said, heading to the kitchen of their house. After Joy was born, he and Tempe bought a house not far from the night club they used to own. They still kept in touch with their friends from the club. In fact, Jack and Angela were bringing their two-year-old son, Kyle, with them to the zoo.

Booth smiled when he saw Joy leading Tempe out of the bedroom and into the dining room. The eggs, bacon, and pancakes were almost finished. "Today's gonna be a great day," Booth thought to himself.

. . .

He opened his eyes to white surrounding him. Once his eyes fully adjusted, he realized where he was. He was in a hospital room with a bandage around his head. _Déjà vous_, he thought to himself. He began to look around, and in the chair next to him sat Tempe with her laptop. "Tempe?" he said, getting her attention.

"Booth! You're awake!" she said, setting the computer down.

"Where's Joy? What happened?"

She looked confused. "You were seriously injured in an attack on your army base. You were put into a coma. Who is Joy?" she replied.

_No. It can't be._

"It was-so real. How long?"

"Sixteen days, Thirteen hours."

"Three years- just a dream? How is that possible?" he said to himself.

"Three years? What was three years?" Tem- or, Brennan asked.

"We were married, and we owned a club. We left it to my brother when you got pregnant. Joy was born. Life was-perfect." He was speaking so quietly, she barely understood him. "But now I'm back to where I started."

. . .

Although more time had passed during this coma than the last, Booth retained more of his memory, and was able to fully recover in three weeks instead of six. Well, almost fully recover. He still remembered that dream, and how happy he was. He now felt a hollow spot inside. He no longer had a beautiful wife and daughter. Instead, he was in love with his beautiful partner.

It didn't take long for the first case to land on his desk. He tried his best to have that same zeal he had had in his previous cases. But back then, he was perfectly content with admiring from afar. Before he knew what real love and happiness really felt like. He had avoided Brennan as much as possible the past few weeks, but that was no longer possible. He went to her office at the Jeffersonian to talk to her. She was working on the paperwork that goes along with any of these cases.

"Brennan, I can't work with you anymore," is all he said before walking away, leaving her stunned and speechless.

**i know how tempting it is to return to whatever you were doing before you read this, but before you do, click that little blue link below. i'd really appreciate it! Ideas, questions, comments, critique!**


	4. Finally

**This is the conclusion to my first fanfic. I hope you enjoy it. Please review with questions, comments, and critique.**

"Booth! Wait!" Brennan shouted after him. She was now full-out running to catch up with him. She managed to grab his arm and force him to stop and look at her. "Bones, I can't-" he wasn't sure how to explain it to her, "The dream I had, while I was in the coma, It was so real. Three full years. I got to know what it was like to love you, and what it was like to have a family with you. I can't go back to a platonic relationship. I can't go back to just partners. Three years, Tempe. We were married with a daughter named Joy. But know, my joy is gone." He turned back around and left, leaving her standing there, tears freely falling from her eyes.

"Angela?" Brennan said, entering her friend's office. Angela turned to see Brennan, her makeup streaked down her cheeks, eyes puffy and red. "Sweetie, what happened?" Angela asked, concern dripping from each word.

"Booth walked into my office and told me we couldn't be partners anymore. He said it was because he finally knows what it is like to have a family with me. In his dream we were married with a daughter named Joy." Her voice was hollow, absolutely no emotion. She looked at Angela, "Then he left." She sat down on Angela's couch and looked at the floor. Angela stood and left, headed for the FBI.

Booth leaned back in the chair behind his desk. He couldn't focus on anything at all. He had tried doing desk work, to no avail. He let his mind wander before a voice interrupted him

"She is in love with you, you know." He looked over to see Angela standing in his doorway. Her tone was cold, eyes completely frozen over. "She never left the hospital. She refused. She wanted to make sure she was there when you woke up. She wanted to tell you herself. You never gave her a chance. You had no right to explode in her face the way you did. She now thinks that you don't ever want to see her again. You better fix this, because she's already been abandoned too many times." Angela stalked out of his office, leaving him awe-struck.

. . .

Brennan wandered out of Angela's office and entered her own. She sat behind her desk and tried to continue writing a chapter for her next book, but she couldn't concentrate. She tried to take a step back from the situation, tried to rationalize it in some way. She had never dealt with a problem she couldn't fully compartmentalize. She couldn't even figure out how long she had been sitting in Angela's office before coming over here. She began to get lost in her thoughts before a knock on her door pulled her out of her reverie. She had locked the door so that no one would disturb her, but when she looked up she saw Angela standing at the door.

"Where did you go, Angela?"

"I talked to Booth. I made sure he knew what he had done," she replied very succinctly, "I don't know if he'll change his mind about your partnership or not, but, knowing Booth, he should be here any minute to talk to you." She headed over to her office to finish the paperwork she was doing before Brennan interrupted.

Dr. Brennan had mixed feelings about this. She knew how much she loved him being her partner, and she knew that she was in love with him. What she didn't know is if he was really in love with her, or if he was in love with the Temperance Brennan from his dream. She was still standing at her door when Booth approached her. "Bones, I-I know that I just stormed out of here after yelling at you, and I know that you're probably not ready to forgive me. But what I didn't know then is that you felt the same way. Angela said that you were in love with me. And I have to know if that's true. I have to know if we can be together. Because that's what I want more than anything else. I love you, and I need to know that you love me too."

Brennan tried to form a response. She couldn't think of exactly what to say. She wanted to work with him, and she wanted to be with him. But her voice wouldn't form the necessary words. She did the only thing she knew would get her point across. She put her hand on his neck and pulled his lips to hers, kissing him as deeply as she could. He wrapped his arms around her, happy to finally have the real Temperance Brennan.

Camille Saroyan exited her office, headed to the lab platform. She walked up the steps and began putting a pair of gloves on. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Booth and Brennan kissing in the doorway to Brennan's office. "Finally." she said to herself before turning her attention to the human body on the lab table.

**So, what do you think? A little cheesy? Tell me what you think! Click on that little blue link! Questions, comments and critique!**


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